hercules

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Dwayne Johnson has been a force to be reckoned with at the box office for the last few years seemingly saving numerous franchises. While he has had a few films with him the only lead his latest film Hercules is easily the biggest to date. Johnson has what it takes to bring this character to life and has a great supporting cast including , Ian McShane, John Hurt, Rufus Sewell, and Joseph Fiennes but does he have the film to back it up or will it come toppling down around him?

Paramount Pictures

Hercules follows the powerful son of the god king Zeus, whom after twelve arduous labours and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods finding his only solace in bloody battle. Over the years he warmed to the company of six similar souls, their only bond being their love of fighting and presence of death. Now the King of Thrace has hired these mercenaries to train his men to become the greatest army of all time but there is more to this battle than they planned for. There has been a tone of movies showcasing Hercules, but no one has been able to really bring it like Johnson can. Physically he was born to play this character and his passion for the project shows in the finished product. That being said it delivers about what you would expect and not much else and that’s not a bad thing. Anyone going into a film like this expecting anything more than a fun popcorn action flick is delusional. What was interesting about the overall film is that most of the big monster action pieces are actually pretty quick moments in the film and usually that is something that disappoints, but here the direction of the story made it that much better. Director Brett Ratner hasn’t been tearing up the box office as of late, but this project with Johnson’s clear love for the role and dedication to making it work may change all that. There is just enough story to keep things moving and make sure each character has a point, but is streamlined enough to eliminate the needless nonsense and gets down to business. While fans have come to enjoy the fun charisma of the ‘The Rock’ everyone really wants to see him bring the pain and he does plenty of that here. There is a ton of action here that lets not only Johnson do what he does so well, but also brings numerous others in on the fun. There are a couple of epic action battle sequences that are well executed and visually stunning.

The scope of this film is awesome and fits the might of Hercules himself. This isn’t a film that is going to be breaking down any barriers in the film industry, but instead just a fun time at the movies watching Dwayne Johnson lay the smack down on everyone in sight. They never take themselves too seriously and seemingly embrace the cheesy natured fun of it all. If you love Johnson then you will no doubt have a great time at this movie. Hopefully this film will do well enough to get Johnson back for another adventure as it is worth the whole film just watching him knock people around.

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Bobby Blakey is the writer, artist, and creator of the web comic Last Stop. Currently he works as talent coordinator for G-Force entertainment, has been studying and teaching Tae Kwon Do for over 30 years and also trains Jujitsu, JUDO, and Kobudo. He has been reviewing movies on his own site laststopcomic.com for the last 3 years, and also previously for moviegeekfeed.com and stumblebum.com. Contact Bobby at mail@bdg-entertainment.com.